A Simple Laboratory-Constructed Automatic Titrator

Abstract

The construction of a simple automatic titrator is described. The buret is replaced with a metering pump to provide a constant flow of titrant. The output from the pH meter is sent to a recorder via a laboratory-constructed differentiator, allowing the results to be plotted as potential versus time, first or second derivative. The pump and recorder are plugged in to a standard power bar; turning the power bar on and off starts and stops the titration. Results obtained with the automatic titrator for the titration of sodium carbonate with HCl are as good as or better than those obtained with manual titration or commercial autotitrators.

Characteristics and educational advantages of laboratory automation in high school chemistry

“…A number of papers report on applying industrial titrators [3] or constructing an automated titrator based on industrial automated devices, such as an automated pipette [4], a metering pump [5], or a computer-controlled syringe pump [6].…”

Comparing the Titrations of Mixed-Acid Solutions Using Dropwise and Constant-Flow Techniques

“…This article describes a series of experiments that compare the accuracy of titrations performed using constant-flow techniques with those from the more traditional dropwise techniques. The individual experiments have been adapted to increase student interest (1,2) in the undergraduate classroom by combining techniques from published automated titrations (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10) with those from published data collection devices (5,(10)(11)(12)(13). While the individual components have been investigated at a research level, we are unaware of studies that make a direct comparison between the techniques and study their incorporation into the undergraduate classroom.…”

Applied Electronics: Construction of a Simple Spectrophotometer

“…Rocha and Reis performed automated photometric titrations using an apparatus they constructed with a phototransistor and a light-emitting diode (LED) (7). Headrick, Davies, and Haegele performed titrations using two differentiator circuits in series to obtain the first and second differential of the pHtitration curve (8).…”